Economic and Market News for 20 May 2020

Sustainable fuels technology company Velocys said resolution to grant planning permission had been given to Altalto Immingham, the UK's first commercial waste-to-jet-fuel plant. The resolution was...

Mobile commerce company Bango said it had launched carrier billing routes in the Google Play store for new operators in Peru, Hong Kong and South Africa. The company said customers in those...

Medical device company Creo Medical said it had signed a commercialisation agreement with the UK's Department of Health and Social Care. The agreement would involve the company providing NHS...

Regenerative medicine developer Collagen Solutions said its subsidiaries in the US and New Zealand had received a mix of loan and grant funding based on those governments' Covid-19 economic support...

Jersey Oil & Gas said it had completed its planned acquisitions of a 70% interest and operatorship of blocks in the North Sea from Equinor. Payment for the acquisition consisted of two...

Medical devices business group AorTech International said subsidiary RUA Medical Devices won a grant under the a Scottish government Covid-19 support scheme. RUA Medical had received £150k of...

Standard Chartered said it had completed the sale of its 44.56% stake in PT Bank Permata to Bangkok Bank Public Company for IDR 17tn ($1.07bn). The sale price represented a premium of $0.3bn over...

Biotherapeutics company Avacta Group said it had entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Medusa19 for direct-to-consumer sales of a saliva-based test for the Covid-19 antigen....

Mosman Oil & Gas said it had sold its Welch asset in Texas to Eagle Natural Resources LLC for $0.3m. The sale comes as the company previously announced that it was narrowing its focus to other...

Education group Malvern launched a deeply discounted share issue to raise £1.17m for working capital and to strengthen its balance sheet. New shares in the company were being offered at 0.15p...

RNA focused drug developer Silence Therapeutics said it planned to list American depository shares on the Nasdaq. The company also announced that it had appointed Iain Ross as its full-time...

Dietary supplements group OptiBiotix Health said it would launch fibre gummies containing its weight loss product in the US as part of a new non-exclusive licence agreement with Bobbi Brown-founded...

Data analytics company Ixico reported a jump in half-yearly profit as revenue was boosted by growth from its higher-margin data analysis services business. For the six months ended 31 March 2020,...

Virtual reality education group VR Education said HTC had agreed to invest €3.0m in the company. The two groups had also entered a strategic partnership for the distribution and license of VR...

Payments company Paypoint said it had appointed chairman Nick Wiles as its new chief executive. Wiles would stand down from the chairman's role, which would be filled by senior non-executive...

Royal Bank of Scotland said it had priced a $1.6bn debt issue to fund its general banking business. The issue included $1.0bn of 3.073% senior notes due 2028 and $0.6bn of 2.359% senior green...

Listed infrastructure company HICL Infrastructure cut its dividend target after reporting a sharp fall in profit as income more than halved on coronavirus-led disruptions to activity. In light...

Diagnostics company Renalytix AI said it had entered into a joint venture with the New York's Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to produce Covid-19 antibody test kits. The joint venture,...

Pharma giant AstraZeneca said its prostate cancer treatment had been approved in the US. The approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was based on results from a Phase III PROfound...

Oil and gas company Echo Energy said its current production levels were expected to remain in line with its estimates. Net production over the period from 1 January to 17 May reached an aggregate...

Gambling company William Hill estimated that it may receive as cash refund from UK tax authorities of between £125m and £150m. The company noted that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customer had decided...

Esports services company Gfinity said it had extended its relationship with F1 and been appointed to deliver the main elements of the F1 Esports series qualifying events for the next three years up...